Seven locations evacuated in Indonesia after fresh eruptions of Mount Ibu
Indonesian authorities said today that seven villages have been evacuated after the Mount Ibu volcano on a remote eastern island erupted twice and was raised to its highest alert level on Thursday.
© AZZAM RISQULLAH/AFP via Getty Images
Mundo Indonésia
The volcano, located on the island of Halmahera in the province of North Maluku, erupted again on Saturday afternoon, spewing ash clouds as high as 4,000 meters, Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement on Sunday.
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A second eruption occurred shortly after, this time sending ash plumes to an altitude of about 1,000 meters. In both cases, the country’s Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) recorded thunderous roars accompanying the eruptions, as well as explosive sounds emanating from the crater.
The military and rescue teams have deployed trucks and vehicles to evacuate seven villages near the volcano and relocate residents, the statement added, without specifying how many people were being evacuated in total.
On Thursday, Indonesian authorities raised the alert for Mount Ibu to its highest level after another eruption, the third in a week.
“Observations indicate an increase in volcanic activity on Mount Ibu, so the alert level has been raised from Level 3 to Level 4 [the highest],” the PVMBG said in a statement.
The agency has urged the public to stay outside a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) radius and imposed a wider 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) restriction on the volcano’s northern flank, where the active crater is located.
Mount Ibu, which is about 1,325 meters (4,347 feet) high, first erupted last Monday.
Ibu is located in the north of Halmahera, the largest island in the Maluku group in eastern Indonesia, which has an area of 17,780 square kilometers (6,865 square miles) and a population of more than 449,000.
Indonesia has more than 400 volcanoes, at least 129 of which are still active and 65 are classified as dangerous.
The Indonesian archipelago is situated on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity that is shaken by about 7,000 earthquakes a year, most of them of low magnitude.
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